Leo grumbled, inhaling the smoke from his cigarette. ​

It was too early for this shit.

He was currently sitting on his balcony, awaiting the arrival of Damien.

Their cousin was not liked by any of the boys due to the fact that wherever Damien went, trouble seemed to follow, and that was something they wanted to keep their Charlie far away from.

Damien spent most of his days at clubs, where he attended business, business Leo had no desire to hear about or getting involved with. The same for his siblings.

Damien often only contacted them whenever he chose to leech off of their and their father's money to feed his extravagant lifestyle, many times requesting more due to bad choices made in investments or impulsive buys.

To put it plainly, their twenty-four-year-old cousin was an asshole, and by god, he knew it too.

Soon, Leo's thoughts were interrupted by his balcony door, swinging open to reveal a suit clad idiot.

Leo turned to see his smirking cousin, giving him an unimpressed look.

"Leo, my man, how have you been?" Damien smirked mischievously, walking over to the older boy and attempted to give him a 'bro' hug. He failed miserably as Leo shoved him off effortlessly.

Damien cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"Why are you here?" Leo grumbled already with boredom, clearly not wanting to beat around the bush as he narrowed his eyes at Damien, wishing the cousin would evaporate.

"You know why I'm here." Damien started, chuckling nervously under his cousin's gaze. "I'm here to see my little cousin, of course. Now, where is the little angel? I have a little something for her." He spoke, revealing a pink bag in his hand, shaking it a little to produce jingling from the contents inside it.

Leo rolled his eyes. It was obvious he wanted something else, it usually was either money or a place to stay, yet their cousin's huge ego wouldn't allow it and always caused a headache to form in Leo's temple. He wished Damien would just state his business and well, to put it kindly, to fuck off.

"You can't see her right now." Leo scowled, bringing the cigarette to his lips.

"She's having her nap and is not to be disturbed," Leo lied. Well, it was half a lie.

The oldest brother had gotten Charlie onto a nap schedule ever since she'd arrived at their home, and goodness knows she needed it.

The toddler quite literally had infinite energy, which often turned out to be not a lot after a while, so any opportunity for a nap was a blessing to all the boys, and of course, Charlie.

Damien pouted mockingly at this new information. "So she's a handful then." Damien teased in an attempt to get on his older cousin's nerves.

"I can still remember Charlie from a few years ago." Damien reminisced to Leo's dismay. "So full of life and energy. Shame, what happened to her dear mother. My condolences."

Leo looked to a smirking Damien and glared darkly at him.

Anyone else would have been crippled with fear with that look, but not Damien, certainly not after what must be a thousand times.

Damien was simply amused.

"How about I just see her? I promise, straight after, I'll get out of your hair. It's just been too long." Damien whined, moving toward the balcony doors.

Leo stepped in front of Damien before he could touch the door handles, giving Leo a second to think.

"Fine," Leo grumbled out, pushing the boy out of the way and walked out of the room with Damien in tow.

Before Leo entered Charlie's room, he turned and stopped Damien with a rough hand. "You wake her, and I swear to god, you won't step out of this room without less than a black eye," Leo warned without an ounce of playfulness.

Damien gulped and nodded furiously before quietly entering the room.

There laid a sleeping Charlie cuddling her Paul.

She looked so tiny wrapped up in the big duvet, her baby hairs littered all over her face, and her chubby cheeks were tainted a rosy pink.

"She's so small." Damien cooed as he peered down at his baby cousin with a look Leo couldn't recognise.

It wasn't quite loving, but it certainly wasn't hatred later.

Leo nodded hesitantly, reaching down to gently stroke his baby sister's cheek, being careful not to wake her.

A loud crash suddenly cut through the peaceful silence, causing the sleeping girl to jump awake in alarm.

Leo looked up angrily to see a frowning Damien by a now broken lamp with an "Oops, aren't I clumsy?" look with a frown on his face, yet his grinning eyes said another thing.

"L-Leo?" A groggy Charlie spoke, rubbing her sleepy eyes with her tiny fists as they adjusted to the light from the open door.

"Hey, darling," Leo whispered soothingly as he sat next to her on the bed and pulled her little body onto his lap, rubbing her back.

Leo gently leaned Charlie's head onto his chest and then looked up to a smirking Damien and narrowed his eyes at the soon to be dead idiot.

"Why don't you try to go back to sleep, love? I think you're still in need of a few more minutes." Leo whispered into Charlie's ear and began to rock her gently in his arms.

Charlie didn't answer as she turned her head to look at an intrigued Damien, causing Charlie to grow slightly anxious.

"W-who' that?" Charlie hesitantly asked, looking back at Leo in confusion as Damien's grin grew wider at the sound of her voice, though not like when her brothers' smiled.

"I, my dear, am your older cousin. Damien. But you and only you may be able to call me Dame." Damien said, proudly.

"D-dame? Like the d-dog?"

Leo held back a snort at Charlie's innocent comment as Damien reddened a little.

"N-no, little one." Damien coughed in embarrassment.

"T-that's a dane. My name is Dan-Dame, well, Damien." Damien spoke with growing irritation and discomfort.

"Anyway, I have something for you," Damien said, bringing Charlie's attention to the mysterious bag in his hand as he brought it forward to the bed, placing it next to Charlie.

"T-thank you," Charlie whispered, reaching out for the gift and then stopped as she looked up to Leo silently in permission.

Leo gently nodded.

Charlie took the pink paper bag and peeked inside to see a small white box.

She pulled it out and admired its pretty decor. It was decorated with silver flowers and tied with a beautiful blue ribbon.

Struggling a little, Charlie opened the fancy box to reveal a very grown-up bracelet. It was silver with little charms spread out over the chain.

Leo looked up at Damien in confusion.

Why get a five-year-old such an extravagant gift? Why not a stuffed bear or a colouring book?

Either one would have cost less than a fraction of the price of the bracelet, and Damien wasn't one to give such a gift unless he expected something in return.

"Do you like it, little one?" Damien broke the silence, looking at Charlie with curiosity.

Charlie nodded hesitantly, smiling up at him kindly. "Y-yes, thank you. It's lovely." She nervously whispered, leaning into Leo as if she was trying to hide from her cousin.

Leo soothingly rubbed her back in response.

Damien smirked triumphantly at the little girl's reply and pulled his phone out to check the time.

"Well, I must get going. Little Charlie, it's been a pleasure. I hope to see you very soon." Damien spoke ambiguously, his smirk never leaving his face.

"Cousin." He nodded towards Leo and departed without waiting for his reply, making his way out of the apartment.

Leo placed a gentle kiss on top of Charlie's head, sighing deeply.

What the hell was that?

-Edited 14/04/2020 with help from the lovely MsFishyLee